Ledenika Brewery in Northwestern Bulgaria Restarts Production

The upgrade of the Ledenikabrewery in the northwestern town of Mezdra has absorbed investments of BGN 25 M, according to Vladislav Tsvetkov, manager of the Ledenika 1964 company.

The official inauguration ceremony of the renovated beer brewery took place on Tuesday and was attended by Ivan Asparuhov, Mayor of Mezdra, and Danail Ganchev, representative of Litex Commerce, the owner of the brewery, according to reports of mediapool.bg.

Prior to that, it was owned by the First Investment Bank, which acquired it from its previous owner Mihail Mihov, due to debts.

Mihov's name made headlines in January 2011 in connection with the so-called Tapegate scandal.

In early January 2011, the Galeria weekly released three tapes of discrediting conversations between then-Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, then-Customs Agency head Vanyo Tanov, then-Finance Minister Simeon Djankov, and then-Deputy Finance Minister Vladislav Goranov.

In one of the conversations Borisov was heard ordering Tanov to immediately pull out customs inspectors out of the "Ledenika" brewery owned by Mihail Mihov because he had promised the businessman not to bother him.

Borisov argued in Parliament that his call about Mihov had been ordered by former President Georgi Parvanov.

The businessman was found dead in a hotel room in Pravets on March 30, 2011 after suffering a heart attack.

Mihov's wife, Eva Mihova, died on May 2, 2012.

The entire property of the brewery was distrained due to unsettled debts of around BGN 6 M.

Beer production at the Ledenikabrewery is restored after a 3-year pause in the year of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the brewery in Mezdra.

The company has a staff of 150, 110 of whom are directly involved in the production of beer.

The annual capacity of the brewery is 400 000 hectolitares of beer and the main part of its output is beer of the "Ledenika" brand.

The output is to double after the completion of the second stage of the upgrade which envisages the installation of a second production line and the re-launch of the malt facility.